In a development that could signal critical implications for pharmaceutical licensing in the United States, a D.C. Circuit panel declined to reinvigorate a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that pointed its crosshairs at an opioid medication settlement between Endo Pharmaceuticals and Impax.
The dispute originated over the license Endo Pharmaceuticals granted to Impax, which allowed Impax to sell a generic variant of the opioid medication. The nature of the license, however, was at the heart of the contention, with the FTC viewing it as monopolistic. The D.C. Circuit panel brushed aside these concerns, concluding that the license was simply “a standard exclusive license.”
The FTC’s lawsuit against this settlement has been a point of significant interest for legal professionals working in the pharma industry, potentially setting a precedent for future legal wranglings around exclusive licensing agreements within the drug industry.
For further details from the original reporting on this development, visit Law360.